KARACHI: Director General of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Major General Aneeq ur Rahman Malik said that awareness among people and especially young generation is necessary to rid society of drugs. It has reached school level, for prevention of which all sections of society have to come forward. Brig, Vaqar Haider Rizvi Commander ANF Sindh, well-known singer Shahzad Roy, actor Saud Khan, education expert Dr. Masood Asghar, Mohsen Naqvi, Ahmed Saeed, Sardar Ramesh Singh, Mufti Jameel and Ahsan Siddiqui expressed their views.

General Aneeq added 1 kg of ice destroys the lives of 5,000 people, in survey that came in past, frequency of drug addicts was 6.6 million and how big this number will be in 2023 will be known from new report, he said. Last month on February 23, ANF destroyed 12 tonnes of drugs, which were destroyed which are enough to disable 71 million people, he said. A 210-bed hospital was set up to provide treatment facilities to drug addicts and 2 more 300-bed hospitals are being established, he said. Anti-Narcotics Force arrested criminals and brought them to court. Their number is 86 percent which is more than punishments given to other criminals, 100 percent punishments are not possible in many parts of world, he said that children studying in school who are of different colours There are complaints about these coffees being provided, concerned authorities should pay attention to it, so that if it is being misused, it can be prevented. He said that an addict should have drugs provided for 20 days without any money and then he is asked to make 4 more people addicted to drugs, this is matter of moment for us, he said, parents also have a heavy responsibility in this regard. Shehzad Roy said that those youths or children who are addicted to drugs and want to quit drugs should be called criminals. Instead of discouraging them, it is important to educate them, there 20 to 30 percent of people want to get rid of this scourge. Saud said that ANF has an active role in stopping spread of drugs, but rest of people also have to fulfill their responsibility. Masood Asghar suggested that task force should be established in educational institutions to monitor the activities of children and if there is any suspicious activity of any child, action should be taken without delay. Ahmed Saeed said that apart from knowledge, students should also be involved in sports activities so that they avoid negative activities. is also ready for it, he said that use of drugs has not been justified in any religion and we will continue to play our role to prevent drugs.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 15 2023

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